I feel like we are in ADHD drug hell right now. We have tried Vyvanse and had a golden 1/2 a week where my 8YO DS was wonderful. But when it stopped working and we tried up up the dose he got angry, defiant, emotional and downright ugly.

Our pediatrician said she "didn't like the sound of that" so she switched him to Focalin XR which we have been on for a week and a half now. At 5mg we saw no effect. Went up to 10 and saw maybe a little minimal effect, but not much. So after a week of that I tried him on 15mg this weekend (which is where his pediatrician said she thought he would be). I was practically in tears this afternoon over his behavior (same as above on higher levels of Vyvanse).

I don't know whether to keep trying stimulants with him (we've now tried one in each "class"), to try something like Intuniv, which from my research seems to have positive results in kids with extreme hyperactivity and behavior issues, or to stop altogether.

I also just read about something called Attend, which is a homeopathic remedy. http://newideas.net/adhd/attend (http://newideas.net/adhd/attend) Anyone here ever heard of this, or tried it?

I feel so lost and heartbroken. We started this whole med odyssey expressly to try to get some "peace" at home and it has done just the opposite if not worsened things.

He is a good kid (just hyperactive and very impulsive) and I wouldn't ordinarily classify him as ODD, but he could definitely trend that way eventually (and shows more of that type of behavior on stimulants from what we've observed). I feel like we saw such promise in the beginning with Vyvance and got a glimpse of how life could be and now it is being taken away. I am just sick about this. :(

fancherml

04-25-10, 07:36 PM

I could have written this post! I have been exactly where you are. The frustration is palpable...

We went through the stimulants one by one. We ended up with the same side effects you did (every time). Then we tried Intuniv. We ended up on 10mg of Focalin XR and 3mg of Intuniv (both "sub-therapeutic" doses for our 60 pound/8y.o. DS). Taken together, you can't tell that my son has ADHD. And THAT is a miracle. You can read some of my other posts that I feared for this poor child! (not to mention my sanity)

We also tried "Attention!" and some other herbal supplements but it did not help much.